Indoor Fun for Sickies

We successfully weathered Keira's fourth tooth, now we're all sick. Bummer. We had been doing so well on the wellness front until this week. Last week, Keira, Eli and I took Keira's stocking in to be embroidered. The embroidery shop is walking distance and on the way to Jump 2 It. I decided to risk it, and take Eli for a little afternoon fun on a freezing cold day to jump to his heart's content. Although he had an absolute ball, I guess it was a bad choice.

Since Keira's hospitalization we've stayed away from large groups of kids. We haven't gone to any MOMS Club activities, story time or indoor jumping places. It was probably no coincidence that we all stayed healthy for almost two months. I guess I was feeling lucky. Even though Eli had a ball and I practically had to drag him out of Jump 2 It, I guess it ultimately was a bad decision. Sunday night, Eli's nose was running like a faucet. He was feeling so crummy that he asked for Benadryl even though he hates the taste. You know he's feeling bad when he asks for Benadryl! He's been sick all week, and he sounds worse now, but I think he's feeling better. A few days ago, Keira and I started getting sick. It would be no big deal for me, just a little cold. But, of course, when Keira doesn't sleep, neither do I. Once she's asleep she eventually can't breathe through her nose. She wakes up gasping. She can breathe through her mouth fine, but transitioning from her nose to mouth scares her and wakes her up. Then, she wants to nurse to fall back to sleep but her stuffy nose makes that difficult or impossible. Last night, she even threw up in the middle of the night -- I think it was all the snot. Poor girly. We tried suctioning her nose out, which is horrible, and unfortunately doesn't seem to last very long. Today her naps have been going pretty well, so that's a bonus.

Fortunately, Keira's mood has actually improved as she transitioned from teething to being sick. She's not sleeping well at night, but when she's up she's in a much better mood. She has gotten back in her old routine of playing independently for long periods of time. It's been so nice for all of us. She likes her playplace and her jumperoo, but she's happiest on the floor playing with toys. We've set up the large letters into a play mat which is a great surface to sit her on. I also put the Boppy behind her for when she falls backward. But, she's starting to get so mobile that she's often scooted away from the Boppy before she falls over, which is why I'm happy we've set up the play mat. She's mobile, but I think it's almost accidental. She sort of leans to one side while playing and then slowly scoots forward or sideways to reach her toys. Eli never crawled (at least not until after he walked.) So, it will be interesting to see if she does. Her behavior definitely lends to the possibility more than his ever did. He played on the floor, too, but not for nearly as long as she does. He liked playing in his playplace the best.



Another thing that increases her chances of crawling is that she does quite a bit of tummy time. We tried to do tummy time with Eli every day, but he screamed the second that you put him face down. Keira, on the other hand, does well for ten to fifteen minutes at a time, as long as I read to her. Her favorite books are Karen Katz flap books, especially "Where is Baby's Belly Button?"


Since Keira has been taking good naps and playing for long periods of time independently, it has given Eli and I much more time together. His favorite thing to do right now is crafts. I think we've done about six crafts in the last couple of days.